Etsy's Handmade Blog
Don't Throw it, Grow it!
Story by mtraub
Published on July 17, 2009 in Craftivism 		Photo by

honeyandjamphotos

Moving back to Brooklyn after spending four years in the Bay Area has left me wistful for public composting bins, local produce year-round, and community-supported agriculture sans waiting lists. Fortunately, when in need of consolation, I can turn to such rich resources as Don't Throw it, Grow it! by Deborah Peterson and Millicent Selsam. This portable little book is chock-full of instructions for growing windowsill plants from kitchen scraps — perfect for self-reliant urban gardening! Check out these tips for cultivating your own lemongrass, one of my favorite herbs.

You can start new plants by using various different parts of a parent plant, such as roots, tubers, bulbs, seeds, or cuttings. Different parts of the plant require different growing methods. Start large tubers or seeds and bulbs in water, over pebbles, in soil, or in a sphagnum bag. Small seeds require just one method: soil or peat. In many cases, after you have started your plants, you will transfer the sprouted plants to containers with soil. Some plants, however, are best left in pebbles with water.

Starting Plants in Water. Large tubers, pits, or roots, such as sweet potatoes, daikon, arrowhead, and water chestnuts, can be started in water. Suspend the tuber, pit, or root in water by piercing the flesh or pit with bamboo skewers. (Toothpicks are too weak to hold these plants as they start to grow.) Plants started in water should be transplanted to soil when they have 4 inches of roots. The roots are quite brittle and should be handled with care.

Arrowhead and water chestnuts can be floated in bowls of water until they develop roots that are 4 inches long. Be sure to add charcoal to their water. Use one part "activated charcoal" to four parts water. This helps to keep the water sweet. The charcoal can be purchased in garden or pet centers.

What it Looks Like. Lemongrass in an ornamental plant with long, thin, bright green leaves. The stalks are stiff and hard. It is available year-round in Asian markets and some larger supermarkets.

How to Grow it. Nothing could be simpler. Lemongrass stalks, including bulbs and the leaves, are sold in bunches. Be sure to buy a bunch that has some of the grass blades showing. Place in a tall glass with enough water to cover the bulbous end of the stalk. Put a tablespoon of activated charcoal in the water. The roots will start to grow within a week. When the stalks have 2- to 3-inch long roots, it is time to transplant them.

The supersaturated roots are brittle and should be handled carefully. Cut off the top half of each stalk; the roots are not strong enough to support the full length. Use 6-inch pots filled with very moist potting soil. Make a hole in the soil that is large and deep enough to hold the roots and bulbous end, and plant one stalk in each pot. Keep the plant moist at all times. If you have a garden, transplant the lemongrass as soon as the weather is warm. If you live in the Northern latitudes, you must bring the plant in for the winter.

Time to Taste. You can eat the entire plant. Steep finely chopped leaves to make tea. Crush the bulbous root, much as you would a garlic clove, and add to Asian and Caribbean dishes. Lemongrass is said to relieve headaches and muscle cramps, and aid digestion.

Thanks to Deborah Peterson, Millicent Selsam, and all the folks at Storey Publishing for sharing this inspiring project with us. Looking for more Craftivism posts? Check out our archive here.

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Tags books, compost, composting, Craftivism, CRAFTIVISM, Earth Tones, eco-conscious, environment, food, gardening, green, herbs, household, lemongrass, organic, plants, Plants and edibles, projects, slow food, sustaniable, tips, tutorials, urban
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107 comments     Login to add your own!

July 17, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. VintageEye

i love my local produce stand! that's as close as i get to gardening!

July 17, 2009 at 11:09 a.m. ParadiseBodyShop

We have done this with a bunch of stuff over the years... right now, it's scallions (green onions) and mint!

July 17, 2009 at 11:12 a.m. ButtensBoutique

*LoveLoveLove* This <3

July 17, 2009 at 11:14 a.m. HibouCards

Thanks for the tip :)

July 17, 2009 at 11:16 a.m. breadandroses

Windowsill and container gardening can green up any abode! Just listed more eco friendly kids'& adult aprons. Perfect for gardening & kitchen:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

Free shipping through July too!

July 17, 2009 at 11:16 a.m. spacejam

cool!!

July 17, 2009 at 11:19 a.m. tldgrainwear

Very interesting post and great picks as usual! Thanks for all this info, cheers!

July 17, 2009 at 11:22 a.m. stitchface

Definitely going to check this book out- I'm growing my first little garden on my city porch this year and would love to try out some of these tips! Thanks for posting this :D

July 17, 2009 at 11:35 a.m. TeenAngster

Great ideas! I want to put my fledgling green thumb to the test and get more herbs and vegetables growing.

July 17, 2009 at 11:36 a.m. babook

Perfect pick of all : ) i think that i should to clean my plant !

July 17, 2009 at 11:40 a.m. sewlola

i love lemongrass tea! i am going to try if it grows inside my apartment. great article!

July 17, 2009 at 11:40 a.m. beautifulbridget

Awesome!!

July 17, 2009 at 11:44 a.m. BululuStudio

Nice!!!

July 17, 2009 at 11:46 a.m. Greenbriar

It reminds me when I lived in the city and had a balcony where I grew basil, pineapple mint, and catnip. I love this topic!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

July 17, 2009 at 11:46 a.m. peaseblossomstudio

Thanks! I live rurally now, and can grow almost anything, but will keep this little book in mind in case I ever go urban again. :-)

July 17, 2009 at 11:47 a.m. Greenbriar

I love the Gardener's Soap! It is so pretty!

July 17, 2009 at 11:52 a.m. ArtBoxDesigns

I always have a herb garden what a difference it makes when using fresh!

I love the garden shirt! So CUTE

July 17, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. evihan

soo useful..thank you for sharinggg:-)

July 17, 2009 at noon Radness

I've saved some dough by planting an herb garden. Everything tastes fresher too! Great picks!

July 17, 2009 at 12:04 p.m. zwzzy

mmmm lemongrass!! I wish my thumb was at least pale green! :P

July 17, 2009 at 12:06 p.m. littlemoandfriends

the seed cards are so sweet! i love the idea!

July 17, 2009 at 12:10 p.m. thestapeliacompany

That woodblock piece is amazing! I love it.

July 17, 2009 at 12:13 p.m. VintageJamie

Oh, that's lemonthyme! I love lemonthyme~

July 17, 2009 at 12:31 p.m. PrimaryRedux

Thanks for this article-its a nice break from everything to think about green things and the wonderful senses of the garden. I've been wanting to try growing lemongrass.

July 17, 2009 at 12:42 p.m. travellingcircus

Fantastic article! Lemongrass is super when used in making Malay style curries:)

July 17, 2009 at 12:50 p.m. steinschmuckdesign

I love gardening,
Thank you for the choices!

July 17, 2009 at 12:54 p.m. codesign

Lemongrass sounds easy enough to grow. Will try it out.
Thanks so much for sharing!

July 17, 2009 at 1 p.m. nowvintage

Great! I have never heard of the charcoal part..
Love the picks, especially the v neck top! I found a list of plants that can be grown from cuttings here;
http://www.healthrecipes.com/plant_cu...

July 17, 2009 at 1:08 p.m. VixVintage

My dad had the green thumb, unfortunately I didn't inherit it. Thanks for sharing!

July 17, 2009 at 1:15 p.m. nomadcraftsetc

We have lemongrass along with a bunch of other Window sill herbs. We also have a big garden that we use compost in. Great post! Love it!

July 17, 2009 at 1:17 p.m. Mymothersgarden

Absolutely wonderful post full of good gardening tips! Stop by my shop to see lots of garden decor items and garden inspired ceramics.
Happy gardening to all!

July 17, 2009 at 1:29 p.m. BlackStar

kitchen scraps are fun to grow. the avocado that we started, grew into a beautiful tree (small) and flowered even.

July 17, 2009 at 1:40 p.m. lovelygifts

Thanks for the tips!

July 17, 2009 at 1:59 p.m. aBreathofFrenchair

I love to garden! I use my recycled containers (milk jugs, cottage cheese tubs) to make mini greenhouses and winter sow my seeds!

July 17, 2009 at 2:04 p.m. BelleMereBelleFille

Lemongrass tea reminds me of my trip to Bali in 2003. Tolong tanpa gula!

July 17, 2009 at 2:12 p.m. FrouFrouFido

oooohemmmgeee! I just love these type of storque articles with green gardening items=). AWESOME ITEMS!!!

July 17, 2009 at 2:17 p.m. TheCraftyRagamuffin

I am a farming geek and I love your articles about these topics. Thanks for sharing! Rosemary is another easy to grow herb -just clip a bit off an existing plant or use a 4-5" stem purchased fresh from a farmer's market. After pulling off the lower leaves (and using them!) set the stem in a small glass of water and place on a windowsill. It will begin to root in a few days and then you can pot it up soon after!

July 17, 2009 at 2:29 p.m. mudpuppy

So fantastic! Thank you for including my baby head planter in such a great article!

July 17, 2009 at 2:33 p.m. BeadinBabe

Thank you for the great tips! :)

July 17, 2009 at 2:34 p.m. lilworkerb

Gardening is always fun!

July 17, 2009 at 2:48 p.m. odiliafu

Great tips! Hope my beloved feline friends don't eat all my herbs.

July 17, 2009 at 3:09 p.m. PipocaHandmade

This book sounds great! Thanks for sharing. I especially love the little water pot...it's adorable and herb-sized!

July 17, 2009 at 3:28 p.m. vantiani

Inspiring!

July 17, 2009 at 3:35 p.m. LaLah

the modern baby head planters!!!! i like!

July 17, 2009 at 3:35 p.m. LaLah

and the water pot- love white!

July 17, 2009 at 3:36 p.m. GimCarry

Thank you for lovely article (* v *)
Happy with Gardening,
Toa

July 17, 2009 at 4:25 p.m. BabbidgePatch

great plant ~ lemongrass!

July 17, 2009 at 5:40 p.m. pandawithcookie

You need a worm bin from the LES ecology club!
I now have seed bomb stuck in my head to the tune of sex bomb. Oh good.

July 17, 2009 at 5:56 p.m. themefragrance

growing things are good!
currently taming my bamboo in bkyln...
use your coffee grounds on your acidic loving plants!
plants like epsom salts and beer!

July 17, 2009 at 6:04 p.m. LilBlossoms

cant wait to check out more of this! im not a green thumb at all but always looking for tips.

July 17, 2009 at 6:21 p.m. monkeyandsquirrel

those modern baby head chia pets are amazing!

July 17, 2009 at 6:45 p.m. Morado

I use lemongrass in my tea and it taste delicious!! It's a quick home remedy for a cold or that under the weather feeling.

http://twitter.com/MoradoShop

July 17, 2009 at 7:37 p.m. cynthiacallan

Thanks!

July 17, 2009 at 8:04 p.m. discomedusa

added to my wish list- thanks!

July 17, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. greenstreetfolkart

Great finds! I especially love the water pot!

July 17, 2009 at 8:55 p.m. RetroHouse

Lemongrass tea sounds so good!

July 17, 2009 at 8:56 p.m. jewelrybyjackie

Great tips! I have a "brown" thumb unfortunately, but maybe with the guidance above I can finally have an indoor herb garden!! Thanks!

July 17, 2009 at 9:38 p.m. brun

nice photography by honeyandjamphotos

July 17, 2009 at 10:11 p.m. paramountvintage

i love gardening and i love the related items!

July 17, 2009 at 10:53 p.m. GemmaBeads

Not much of a gardener but I do love to grow chives, tarragon, lavender, thyme and rosemary. I add a sprig of rosemary to my lemonade for a very refreshing and wonderfully summery drink. I highly recommend it!

July 17, 2009 at 11:01 p.m. Tina669

I love the Gardener's Soap!

July 17, 2009 at 11:09 p.m. RiverBazaar

At this very moment I believe the sweet potato is sending out more lovely vines where it sits on my kitchen windowsill in water. It sprouted while waiting for me to eat it- so now I have it as a houseplant and if I want to grow sweet pototoes I can just pull off a leafed out vine and plant it or plant the whole thing if it gets too unwieldly on my windowsill...which is happening rapidly...

July 17, 2009 at 11:43 p.m. rakubuttons

3 cheers for fresh !

July 18, 2009 at 4:06 a.m. 1AEON

nice opening photo honeyandjamphotos!! would make a great album cover!!!!

July 18, 2009 at 5:47 a.m. zeropumpkin

:D i love this

July 18, 2009 at 7:06 a.m. sandali

AWESOME article ~~ I love the fact that we can create so much from so little !! It's the small wonders of the world that creates these trigger happy days ;)

July 18, 2009 at 8:49 a.m. thebestvintage

Thanks... love the instructions!

July 18, 2009 at 8:52 a.m. beachhouseblues

It's great to find new projects that don't cost a lot of money!

July 18, 2009 at 10:43 a.m. carvelcountrysoaps

Great article!

July 18, 2009 at 11:39 a.m. emmarts

I LOVE cooking with lemongrass! Thanks for the great description.

July 18, 2009 at 1:05 p.m. girltuesdayjewelry

Thank you for the ideas and wonderful featured items! Mudpuppy's white baby head planter is a scream! I love it!

July 18, 2009 at 8:02 p.m. dogwoodflowerdesigns

There is nothing like picking fresh herbs from your back yard and making something like Rosemary chicken on Sunday morning.

July 18, 2009 at 10:02 p.m. Beadz2Pleaz

A really lovely article. Thanks for sharing :)

July 18, 2009 at 10:11 p.m. MentaEra

I'm glad to see all the positive responses to this. Gardening is wonderful and more people should do it!

July 19, 2009 at 8:50 a.m. RonH

Everything from the home garden tastes better and you get to watch the plants grow.

July 19, 2009 at 10:01 a.m. amoronia

I LOVE growing my own plants!!!

July 19, 2009 at 4:06 p.m. galanight

It's so much fun planting your own vegetables and herbs! Thanks for sharing!

July 19, 2009 at 4:18 p.m. PawPawsWorkshop

Great article

July 19, 2009 at 5:24 p.m. heidiburton

love these items, and an informative article - great tips :)
just polished off my dinner, fresh from the garden. nowt beats homegrown!

July 20, 2009 at 11:19 a.m. amber84

very cool stuff. I love love love growing things! My front porch looks like a jungle. :)

July 20, 2009 at 1:29 p.m. adoreneko

Going to check and see if they have this wonderful book at the library. Thank you so much!

July 20, 2009 at 3:57 p.m. xenya

Grow organic!

http://greenthing.etsy.com

July 20, 2009 at 6:19 p.m. clothpaperstitches

Looking forward to checking this out!

July 20, 2009 at 6:36 p.m. MamaKs


!Lemongrass!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?...

July 22, 2009 at 6:12 p.m. GreenTease

Go green. Recycle!!!! Yeah!

July 22, 2009 at 6:29 p.m. 10eisha

OOoh I love this idea. I started urban vermi-composting this year and also windowsill herbs and a mini rooftop garden. Ive never thought about starting from food scraps! Awesome.

July 28, 2009 at 7:09 a.m. HortelaPimenta

Tip: In Brazil we use to beat in the blender with lemon juice, or passionfruit juice, or pineaplle juice. It's the best for the hot season!
Just be careful with the fiber os the plant, go the juice with a very fine sieve!!
Enjoy it!!!

July 29, 2009 at 2:31 p.m. orchardfarmsoap

we have a small acerage organic farm and grow a lot of medicinals that we use in our body care line. I have yet to grow lemongrass but will do next season. so happy to hear about people enjoyng growing their own.

July 29, 2009 at 11:24 p.m. jesophi

oh yes a great book that shows you tha basics and pretty easy to learn! :) loveit

July 30, 2009 at 8:22 p.m. TheBeesWrists

I love those seed cards!

July 31, 2009 at 12:09 a.m. Piruli

As you enjoy the borough I just left, please check out the Added Value program in Red Hook if you already have not: http://www.added-value.org/

Aug. 7, 2009 at 7:28 a.m. BunnyBelle

Great!I've grown up living the 'green' life as my Mum has always been 'green',so going out to the garden to pick up the salad was everyday routine for me.Now that I moved out and I live in the city I miss it so much.Great article!

Aug. 20, 2009 at 7:42 a.m. SuppliesHandcrafted

Wonderful, informative info!! Thanks! I've enjoyed growing my own herbs at our beach house this year, as well as benefitting from BIL's wonderful veggie garden!

Aug. 20, 2009 at 12:58 p.m. hmfromtheheart

My husband and myself, along with our three children planted our first vegie garden this year. I can't believe how much it has produced! We have had to give so much of it away.
It has been such a great experience; planting, tending, harvesting, and eating the vegies we have planted. My kids just love harvesting the garden, and it has givin them an appreciation for where our food comes from.
I sure do give the farmers so much credit for all the labor and hard work they put into their farms, just so we have food to eat

Aug. 25, 2009 at 5:21 a.m. buddhanature

What a fun article!

I love gardening! . . . One day I'll have a beautiful garden and all the whimisical gardening accessories . . . stepping stone tile paths . . . I imagine it to be beautiful there!

Now I know where I can find everything I need to accomplish my gardening dreams!

Beautiful work everyone!

Aug. 25, 2009 at 5:29 p.m. SheScreamsMyName

Love this! :D

Aug. 28, 2009 at 8:12 p.m. anadiazarte

Oh,this is so nice!

Aug. 30, 2009 at 9:07 p.m. purpleandlime

mmmm lemongrass tea

Sept. 4, 2009 at 10:41 p.m. IslaNewYork

haha how funny - my boyfriend was just reading this book this evening! it makes me want to move back to the bay area and settle down in a nice little house with a garden! instead im growing a 10ft tomato plant on my nyc studio's windowsill! haha, and no tomatoes :/

Sept. 7, 2009 at 12:36 p.m. icanspellit

So much CREATIVITY. I love it!!

Sept. 15, 2009 at 3:56 p.m. thinkoflaura

We all know that plants bring green color and a natural feel to the indoor environment, but plants possess many other proven benefits which help improve your quality of life as well as your bottom line!

Plants improve indoor air quality by removing harmful pollutants from the air. They improve comfort levels by stabilizing humidity levels.

Plants have been proven to increase worker productivity and attendance as well as add to workplace satisfaction. Not to mention the positive effects they have on the aesthetic value of your property, occupancy and tenant retention.[http://www.essayontime.com Custom essay]

Sept. 18, 2009 at 2:08 p.m. theninestories

You are one brilliant pebble!

Sept. 30, 2009 at 2:42 p.m. SalvagedExpression

That book has been on my to buy list for years! Ever since I started growing my leftovers and dreaming of a real yard. Wonderful article!

Nov. 18, 2009 at 7:22 a.m. sparrowsalvage

This is fantastic!

When I was younger I was told that all supermarket food was made barren so people couldn't grow food from the seeds, but we got pumpkins and tomatoes from a share house compost heap, so I don't think that's true!

If you really want to go guerrilla, you can get the seeds from vegetables reclaimed from the supermarket dumpster.

Nov. 23, 2009 at 9:45 a.m. ricerafferty

I will definitely grow Lemongrass now! Thanks!

Dec. 1, 2009 at 1:34 p.m. divinalocura

I enjoy cultivating strawberries......it`s just great!! and then i share them with my family.....my mom thas the same thing with vegetables.....it`s really cool. Plus is really good for the soul....=)

Kisses..1

Dec. 2, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. poprelique

More helpful info from Etsy...I love this place :)

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